Obstacles to disengagement and democratization: Military regimes in Benin and Burkina faso

This chapter examines the possibility of democratization in some highly unlikely contexts. Benin and Burkina Faso illustrate fundamental obstacles to political democracy. The chapter suggests any long-term restoration of civilian rule may depend, paradoxically, on the development of greater national unity under an authoritarian government. Benin and Burkina Faso bear witness to the difficulty- and perhaps the impossibility-both of successful, long-term voluntary withdrawal of the military from politics in the face of chronic social and institutional division, and of the development of democratic institutions and procedures in praetorian systems. Lamizana tried a different tack in his second major effort at disengagement in the mid-1970s. Civilians will continue to be coopted; over time, the governing group is changing from a military-civilian coalition to a civilian-military coalition; and political power remains uncertainly in Compaore’s hands. The most important step toward military withdrawal from politics may be active leadership of a political party, built from below rather than imposed.